| There has been an increasing movement to include children with disabilities in general education classrooms. However, the goal of inclusion is often not met by teachers. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine general education teachers' experiences in teaching of, and caring for children with disabilities, if they had no previous training in special education and inclusion issues. The participants were ten general education teachers in elementary schools located in rural and small-town environments in Georgia where inclusion policies have been implemented. Interviews were analyzed using the modified van Kaam method by Moustakas to address the research question: What are the perceptions and attitudes of general education teachers about inclusion programs? Five thematic categories were developed to fully explain and comprehend the research question, these were the: overall experiences; challenges; best practices; advantages; and disadvantages experienced by the general education teachers under the inclusive setting. Completion of the analysis showed that general education teachers found that employing a wide range of effective teaching methods was essential in an inclusive classroom. For general education teachers, the main challenges were managing teacher conflicts as well as the probability that special education students may have trouble adjusting to the new setting. Teachers must take ownership of the shift in process. Meanwhile, one advantage of classroom inclusion was having the opportunity to monitor students more closely. The primary recommendation for future research is that scholars might consider incorporating the experiences of administrators and parents of students who have successfully completed an inclusion program. |
